Italiano
“The meeting point” during the hot Summer nights as well as the beautifil days in Winter, when the favourable weater conditions allow to enjoy the breath taking sunsets of Ostia at their best. Il Pontile (the pier) is definitely a landmark of the city.
From there the view is free to wander over the water (from East to North-West) as well as inland to admire the sky-line and architectures that characterize Ostia.
Il Pontile, inaugurated on October 28th 1940 by Benito Mussolini, occupies a strategic position as it was meant to be the natural extension over the Thirrenian sea of the via del Mare (the road to the sea), the road that connects the historical centre of Rome to its sea, travelling along the original path of the roman via Ostiense.
Before then, the only artefact alike was a simple wooden jetty, built in 1924 as an extension of the Grande Piazzale Popolare (the great square of the People) today Piazza Anco Marzio, more precisely between the bathing resorts Roma and Battistini existing at that time.
The idea behind the construction of what was originally the Pontile del Littorio was to provide the area with a monument to celebrate the growing importance of the new district of Rome on the coast (as the fascist regime appointed Ostia), due to the realization of the connection to the city centre represented by the via del Mare.
The square, in the shape of an exedra ending with a straight section towards the sea, until then had the task of providing a background to the main road to Ostia Lido (via del Mare), is now redesigned to be livable space, almost a terrace, in the shape of a semicircle with a 90 meters diameter provided with gardens and seats and paved with travertine marble from Bagnoreggio. This is the access to Il Pontile (the pier) protruding for 125 meters into the water, with stairs to allow the docking and access from the boats and decorated with a wind rose realized with several types of marbles on the semicircular platform, at the end of the pier.
During WWII the pier, considered a point of reference for the allied forces during a possible landing, was blown up by german troops. After the reconstruction, started in 1953, the pier was named Pontile della Vittoria (the pier of Victory)
Still today Il Pontile and the square before it, is a meeting point for the locals and site of cultural events.
In 1984 in occasion of the centenary of the completion of the reclamation of the territory, a monument commemorating the laborers from Ravenna was placed in the garden in the centre of the exedra.
